Likutei Moharan 61:2/ליקוטי מוהר"ן ס״א:ב׳

12. There are leaders who are called rabbi, whose studies are from this waste matter. Although they are incapable of guiding even themselves, as explained above, and all the more so of guiding others, they nonetheless put themselves forward in order to lead <others>. One must make certain not to confer authority on them, or strengthen and empower them, so that they are not referred to as “rabbi.” For they themselves are not all that at fault, since they have a strong evil urge to lead people. Nevertheless one must be very careful not to strengthen or empower them, since it is those who strengthen and empower them and through whose authorization they are called rabbi, who in the future will have to give an accounting.

2By conferring authority on an unworthy rabbi, the writing of our hand is weakened and has no force. [Instead,] we strengthen the writing of the hand <of the nations>. This enables <the nations> to issue a decree <against us>, that our writings should have no force, only theirs, thus obligating the Jews to study their writings. And, <as a result,> they also decree that the Jewish people be exiled from a place Jews settled long ago, to places where no Jew has ever been.

3The reason for this is that conferring authority on a rabbi and writing are from the same aspect. SeMiKhah (ordination) is with the hands, as it is written (Deuteronomy 34:9), “Yehoshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moshe SaMaKh (laid) his hands upon him.” This is <likewise> the aspect of writing, the aspect of “a writing hand” (Tikkuney Zohar 55, p. 89a). For writing, too, is from the aspect of wisdom, <the aspect of “the letters make wise”>, since all the worlds were created with the letters of writing, as it is written (Psalms 33:6), “By the word of God the heavens were made…”; and it is written (ibid. 104:24), “You made them all with wisdom.”

4Each and every letter contains <amazing> wisdom. The Wisdom of the Blessed One prescribed that each letter have its distinct shape, and through it for a world to be created with its distinct shape and to function in the particular manner that pertains to that world. The same is true for the other worlds, [each one] with a different shape and manner of conduct by virtue of a different letter-shape, as decreed by the Wisdom of the Blessed One.

5When the scholar who is worthy of being ordained is invested with the title “rabbi,” for his conduct is in the aspect of ‘true mishpatim,’ as explained above, then by means of the ordination—his obtaining wisdom from the aspect of the Hand of God, in the aspect of “Yehoshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom…”—he brings illumination and strength to the writing of our hand. It, too, is from the aspect of wisdom, as explained above, in the aspect of “All this that God gave me to comprehend by His Hand [I give you] in writing” (1 Chronicles 28:19). By means of the intellect <and wisdom> that he receives from the Hand of God, which is the aspect of ordination, he draws illumination and strength into the writing, as explained above.

6This is the aspect of “the spirit rested upon them; they were in the writings” (Numbers 11:26). Because they were appointed then and received the spirit of wisdom, they brought illumination into the writings—i.e., into the writing of our hand, as explained above. And then, not only is the writing of our hand not subject to their mishpat, but even all their mishpatim -of-conduct are determined by the writing of our hand, in the aspect of “to execute written mishpat against them” (Psalms 149:9) .

7But when people confer authority on an unworthy rabbi, it weakens the writing of our hand and strengthens their writing. All <our> mishpatim must be determined specifically by their writings, this being the aspect of “about these mishpatim, they know nothing,” the aspect of distorted mishpat, as explained above.

8This enables them to decree that the Jews be exiled from a place they settled long ago. A place the Jews settled in the past, even in the Diaspora, has the aspect of the sanctity of the Land of Israel, the aspect of “a minor sanctuary” (Ezekiel 11:16). Because the Jews live there, the air is sanctified in the aspect of the air of the Land of Israel. Through the writing of our hand, the air is sanctified, in the aspect of “the air of the Land of Israel makes wise” (Bava Batra 158b). For the writing is the aspect of “the letters make wise.” By means of the pen’s movements through the air at the time of writing, the aspect of “the letters make wise” is etched into the air. This causes the air to become sanctified, in the aspect of “the air of the Land of Israel makes wise.”

9But when people blemish the writing of our hand by conferring authority on an unworthy rabbi, as explained above, they exile the Jews from a settled area, from a place they settled long ago, which is the aspect of the air of the Land of Israel. They exile them from there to a desolate wilderness, where there is no holiness whatsoever, for the Jews have never lived there <and the air there has never been sanctified>, as explained above.